Odd Creatures News

October 14, 2016

Unconventional Cell Division in Caribbean Sea

Jumping Spiders Can Hear More Than You Think

This Little Amoeba Committed Grand Theft

Dinosaurs Likely Did Not Sing

Latest Headlines

updated 8:37am EDT

New Kind of Local Food Grows in Your Own Kitchen

Oct. 13, 2016 — A home appliance that grows the ingredients for a healthy meal within a week from plant cells is no longer science fiction. The first 3D-printed CellPod prototype is already ... read more

From Unknown to Beardog: Findings Rescue Fossils from 'Trashbin' Genus

Oct. 12, 2016 — A new study identifies two fossils previously thought to be generic carnivorans (a large, diverse order of mammals) as some of the earliest known members of the beardog family. These fossils are from ... read more

Virus Carrying DNA of Black Widow Spider Toxin

Oct. 11, 2016 — Biologists sequencing the genome of the WO virus, which infects the bacterial parasite Wolbachia, have discovered that the phage carries DNA that produces black widow spider ... read more

Why Naked Mole Rats Feel No Pain

Oct. 11, 2016 — The African naked mole rat is an odd, homely creature with the closest thing to real-life super powers on earth. These small rodents can live for 32 years, they are ... read more

Altering the 'Flavor' of Humans Could Help Fight Malaria

Oct. 10, 2016 — A specialized area of the mosquito brain mixes tastes with smells to create unique and preferred flavors. These findings advance the possibility of identifying a substance ... read more

Lazarus Ice

Oct. 10, 2016 — Every school child knows that ice melts in the summer and freezes in the winter. But it turns out that the process isn’t that simple in the Arctic, where one type of sea ... read more

Mice Sing Like a Jet-Engine

Oct. 10, 2016 — Mice court one another with ultrasonic love songs that are inaudible to the human ear. New research shows they make these unique high frequency sounds using a mechanism that ... read more

In the Belly of the Devil: New Rare Ant Species Found in the Stomach of a Poison Frog

Oct. 4, 2016 — While new ant species are usually discovered in surveys involving researchers searching through leaf litter, it turns out ... read more

Are Modern Humans Simply Bad at Smoking?

Sep. 23, 2016 — Scientist looked for the genetic footprint of fire use in our genes, but found that our prehistoric cousins - the Neanderthals - and even the great apes seem better at dealing with the toxins in ... read more

Brewery Wastewater Transformed Into Energy Storage

Oct. 7, 2016 — Engineers have developed an innovative bio-manufacturing process that uses a biological organism cultivated in brewery wastewater to create the carbon-based materials needed to make energy storage ... read more

This Tiny Bug Can Make People Allergic To Red Meat

New York Uses Recycled Toilets to Revive Oyster Reefs

Bees Taught to Pull String for Reward and Then Train Others

When Life Gives You Air Pollution, Make ... Jewelry?

Ultimate Sacrifice: Spider's Post-Sex Cannibalism Aids Offspring

Oct. 7, 2016 — The male dark fishing spider is just dying to father some children -- and this death wish probably evolved to benefit his offspring, according to new ... read more

Methane Muted: How Did Early Earth Stay Warm?

Oct. 7, 2016 — For at least a billion years of the distant past, planet Earth should have been frozen over but wasn't. Scientists thought they knew why, but a new modeling study has fired the lead actor in ... read more

Loner Spiders Prevail as Pioneers

Oct. 7, 2016 — A spider looking to immigrate to a different environment is three to four times more likely to survive if it goes by itself, as opposed to as part of a group, new research ... read more

How Gecko Feet Got Sticky

Oct. 7, 2016 — How do key innovations in the animal kingdom arise? To explore this question, evolutionary biologists studied Gonatodes, a genus of dwarf geckos. In the process, the researchers found a ... read more

Apes Understand That Some Things Are All in Your Head

Oct. 6, 2016 — We all know that the way someone sees the world, and the way it really is, aren't always the same. This ability to recognize that someone's beliefs may differ from reality has long been ... read more

Some Birds Behave Like Human Musicians

Oct. 6, 2016 — The tuneful behavior of some songbirds parallels that of human musicians, according to new ... read more

Scientists Search for Regional Accents in Cod

Oct. 6, 2016 — Fish may have regional accents and communicate differently in different parts of the world, according to a fish ... read more

Beer Eases Final Moments for Euthanized Invertebrates, Study Finds

Oct. 6, 2016 — A scientist sought a humane way to end the lives of snails in a laboratory. She found a dip in a few ounces of beer or a 5 percent ethyl alcohol solution sedates the snails. Then they don't ... read more

String Pulling Bees Provide Insight Into Spread of Culture

Oct. 4, 2016 — Bumblebees can learn to pull strings for food and pass on the ability to a colony, according to new ... read more

Early Development Reveals Axolotl Mysteries

Oct. 3, 2016 — In the amphibian world, the axolotl is the replacement-parts king. This endangered Mexican salamander serves as its own NAPA store for lost body parts, able to fully regenerate limbs, tail, heart, ... read more

Hearing the Same Sound Twice in Each Ear Helps Insects Locate Their Mates

Oct. 3, 2016 — An incredibly advanced hearing system which enables a group of insects to listen to the same sound twice with each ear, helping them to locate the sound’s origin with pinpoint accuracy, has been ... read more

New Large Prehistoric Shark Discovered

Oct. 3, 2016 — Megalolamna paradoxodon is the name of a new extinct shark described by an international research team who based their discovery on fossilized teeth up to 4.5 centimeters (1.8 inches) tall found from ... read more

The Value of Marine Waste

Oct. 3, 2016 — Scientists are using squid, fish and algae waste to obtain new materials. This line of research is offering a fresh take on plastics aligned with the principles of the circular economy, which is ... read more

How to Be a Male Without the Y Chromosome

Sep. 30, 2016 — Key sex-determining genes continue to operate in a mammalian species that lacks the Y chromosome, taking us a step further toward understanding sex ... read more

Good Food Puts Bees in Good Mood

Sep. 29, 2016 — After bumblebees drink a small droplet of really sweet sugar water, they behave like they are in a positive emotion-like state, scientists have ... read more

Ancient Reptile Fossils Claw for More Attention

Sep. 29, 2016 — Newly recovered fossils confirm that Drepanosaurus, a prehistoric cross between a chameleon and an anteater, was a small reptile with a fearsome finger. The second digit of its forelimb sported a ... read more

Genes Underlying Dogs' Social Ability Revealed

Sep. 29, 2016 — The social ability of dogs is affected by genes that also seems to influence human behavior, according to a new study. The scientists have found a relationship between five different genes and the ... read more

Outrageous Heads Led to Outrageously Large Dinosaurs

Sep. 27, 2016 — Theropod dinosaur species with bony crests, horns and knobs evolved to giant body sizes 20 times faster than those species lacking such embellishments, new research has ... read more

Climate Change Will See Some Males Get Sexier

Sep. 27, 2016 — A common marine crustacean has shown researchers that it's all set to beat climate change -- the males will get more attractive to the females, with a resulting population ... read more

How Wetlands and Agriculture, Not Fossil Fuels, Could Be Causing a Global Rise in Methane

Sep. 27, 2016 — Recent rises in levels of methane in our atmosphere is being driven by biological sources, such as swamp gas, cow burps, or rice fields, rather than fossil fuel emissions, new research ... read more

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